Jeremy Renner Says Recording New Album Was 'Really Cathartic' and 'Healing' After Accident (Exclusive)
Jeremy Renner, who is set to star in Silk's new Super Bowl commercial, admits it was "tough" to be so open about his personal life in his music
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Jeremy Renner in Los Angeles in April 2023Jeremy Renner may have made his name as an actor, but it was music he turned to when on the road to recovery.
In the year since the Hawkeye star, 53, was critically injured in a snow plow accident, he’s processed his range of emotions by writing. Earlier this month, he released the album Love and Titanium, the title of which draws from an ABC interview he gave in April, where he said he’d been “refueled and refilled with love and titanium” after the accident.
“I got together with some friends and it became quite cathartic as we started writing about it, because it’s pretty intense,” Renner tells PEOPLE while discussing his new, upcoming "Feel Planty Good" Super Bowl ad for Silk, the plant-based milk company's first Big Game spot. “It’s about being on the ice after being ran over and the thoughts and feelings running through your brain, and a lot of parts of recovery.”
Jennifer Clasen
Though the Oscar-nominated star released the EP The Medicine in 2020, this project was different, as it served as a deeply personal musical diary.
The bulk of the lyrics were inspired by the loneliness and isolation he felt while hospitalized for more than two weeks, and Renner says he found putting his feelings on paper to be “really cathartic and kind of healing.”
Though the music came together quickly for the star, working up the courage to share it with the world was another matter. As an actor, Renner inhabits different characters; he gets to be someone else. Not so with his songs.
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Jeremy Renner with his daughter Ava on the red carpet in Los Angeles in April 2023“When it comes to music, it’s just me and my thoughts and feelings and perspectives, and so it’s a little bit more revealing, and that’s a little tougher to do,” he says. “[It’s] tough to really just kind of be yourself and be open to being judged and criticized and all these things. [It takes] a lot of courage to have to do that… I’m a pretty private guy, but there’s certain things I feel like it’d be a shame if I didn’t [release].”
Releasing music has also given the star a chance to showcase his tight bond with daughter Ava, 10, who’s featured in the emotional music video for his song “Wait.”
Ava also stars alongside Dad in Silk’s new Super Bowl commercial, for which PEOPLE was on set during filming in Los Angeles.
“I still don’t believe it, that it’s even really transpired. There’s some sort of milestones that give me confidence, and this is probably another one of them,” he says. “I never would’ve tried or attempted any of these types of moves, or dancing around like James Brown on a countertop. I did everything, and it felt good and didn’t hurt too much the next day. I’m happy to have to be tested to try it, but to be honest, there’s a lot of hesitancy, and it’s baby steps for me in this deal.”
Still, the chance to make a public declaration of physical fitness was one he was especially happy to do with Ava, whom he shares with ex-wife Sonni Pacheco, by his side.
“It’s a beacon of hope for me and for my daughter as well, and this is a new part of our journey together in recovery and in life,” he says. “Getting back into life in a different way, out of a hospital bed, out of the house, being social, just doing normal things. It represents a lot to me, and I’m very thankful to be here to do this.”
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